Work Text:
She is swimming; she is drowning. She is flying, and she is falling. She cannot say a word, and yet there is a chorus of voices pouring out of her, desperate for her voice to cry suffering after their eternity of silence. She is everything, and she is nothing.
She is dying.
She is dying.
She is dying.
She is d y i n g -
Until she opens her eyes, and finds herself alive.
It is her first surprise.
There is a chill in the air that even she, with her false, silken form, can feel. All she can see is grey - walls and floors and ceilings, all made of a strange, smooth, curved stone. Waves lap softly at some distant shore; and closer, she can faint rustling and hoarse breathing - but that is all.
It is the eerie quiet - more than anything else - that pushes her to rise. To see what threat has chased away the life that surely should populate these strange caverns.
Upon sitting up, she finds her second surprise: the shore which she had thought must be many largos away instead lies barely two rhythms from where she lays. The movement of the waves comes from the many-eyes beasts that periodically surface, all staring at her beadily.
She knows, with what passes as instinct to a being such as her, that the beasts are hungry - and she will be their food if she is to draw any nearer. And it is that understanding that brings forth the third surprise: the memories of the events which transpired to bring her to this strange, desolate place.
The fight above; the fall below; the thrashing Hate and Fear and What are you? and Silken Creature you are like them like Ȕ̸̦̦̍s̸̰͍̑ you’re one of us let us in let us help you protect you keep you safe leave us alone Hated Chains, Fearful Bloom, Descendant of Moon, give her back give her b ạ̶̢͕͛̽̈ c̸̺̩͒ ̶̤͍̓k̷̻̳̔͂ ̵̠͋-̴͖͛ ̶͍̱̕!̵̠̽̎ͅ
And then her awakening.
And it is lonely; it is so, so, so lonely to be herself now, because not so long ago and an eternity prior, she’d had so many others with her, in her mind, an overwhelming outpouring of Love and Care and Protect, and she almost goes to walk those last few rhythms to join with those beings of the Void who had welcomed her with open arms - until she spies movement out the corner of her eye, and whips her head around so fast that a waltz of threads in her neck snaps.
And there she finds her fourth surprise.
The spider in red - the one she’d freed, the she’d fought, the one she’d saved - lies across from her, unconscious. Her rosaries and shards and tools lie scattered about her still form, needle a mere beat from her Weaver-red cloak.
And she is not alone.
The Void Itself stares back at her, and she knows - in a way that defies explanation - that she and It are one in the same. Two fallen, betrayed children of the Gods; each a vessel in their own right, created for something they could never hold. False lives, living nonetheless.
Lace thinks she can understand the spider’s words a little better now.
“Hello,” She whispers to the tiny God sitting with the spider’s head on Its lap.
The God, in response, lifts a hand to wave at her, the other still gently stroking the spider’s curved mask.
“You… saved us?” She asks, and the God- Void- Vessel nods.
“…Why?”
It stares at her for a moment, and then Lace feels a gentle brush at the corner of her mind, where silk is strung thick enough to create a shield of webbing. The knock against her mental walls is wholly unnecessary; she is well aware of the power It holds, the way It could slice through her shielding with nary a thought.
Perhaps that is why she barely hesitates before dropping the threads binding her mind. Not the fact that the Vessel of Void could do what It wants - but the fact that It doesn’t.
‘For sister’s sake,’ The Ghost whispers in her mind. ‘Payment for debt, both your’s and her’s. For a chance, to live a life, free from the shackles of Pale Creators.’
‘What?’ Lace thinks, opens her mouth to ask - but understanding comes to her from the thread connecting her mind to the Ghost’s.
The spider in red is the Ghost’s elder sister - their only sister. She tested them, named them, comforted them, and - in the end - aided them in their search for a better path, to battle a God and free their Siblings.
She had saved the Ghost’s life, when the carcass of a Wyrm collapsed around them; Lace herself had saved Hornet’s life, freeing her from her Mother’s grasp.
And she, and Phantom, and Hornet, and the Ghost, and all their Siblings lost to the Void, and the one who had been chained high above - they had all been shackled by the Pale Beings that had created them. Each to their roles, each to their kingdoms; there had been no escape while the Gods lived on in their lands.
Until now, when all the Gods that had held the strings had been dragged to the depths below. They were free - all of them. The Silken Children to grow up; the Voided Knights to learn to be grubs; and the Hunter-Protector to choose her own path.
“Thank you, Little Ghost,” Lace breathes, feeling tiny beads of moisture form in her eyes. “This is… a gift - far beyond any I could have ever Wished for.”
The Ghost ducks their head, and Lace senses… embarrassment?
This tiny little God, with magic and abilities far beyond what any being could ever hope for, was embarrassed by even the tiniest little bit of genuine praise and thanks.
This breaks the metaphorical dam that had been building in Lace: she laughs, wild and free and more than a little bit manic at the irony of the God of Gods feeling embarrassed over mere words; at the Lord of Shades saving two Children of the Gods from their own Void’s grasp; and at the lengths their sister had gone to - not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times - to save discarded Vessels from their pitiful fates.
And it is this laugh that, finally, seems to stir the demi-God resting in her sibling’s lap. She shudders, and groans softly - and the Ghost lightly slips from their spot, allowing their sister’s head to gently rest on the ground, before pulling away.
“Where are you going, Little Ghost?” Lace asks, watching them in confusion, giggles beginning to subside.
They turn to her, and simply say ‘Back.’
Lace frowns. “Why? I’m sure she would be happy to see you again, especially after saving us the way you did.”
Ghost hesitates. ‘…Maybe,’ They say, as if there is any doubt. ‘But the past is the past; my shell is shattered, and to emerge now could mean… disaster. For you, and for her, and for this kingdom.’ They hesitate again, dipping their head to watch their sister twitching on the ground.
‘…Besides,’ They add, something warm in their mental voice. ‘She can always come find me if she wishes to see me again. She knows where I am, and wherever she may go, the Void will sit beneath the land - and so will I.’
With a final nod towards Lace, the Ghost dives back into the Void Sea, taking the thrashing beasts with them - and just in time for their presence to remain a secret, Hornet pushing herself up mere moments after their exit.
The spider looks up at the Void Sea, and then turns to Lace. “… Child,” She says in acknowledgement.
“Hello, little spider~” Lace giggles.
“…I am glad to see you are well. What-” And then Hornet cuts herself off, looking at her hand in surprise.
Curious, Lace leans over to sneak a look as well, and finds a strange trinket - one with a Weaver’s face carved upon it, and some strands of silk strung around it. She pauses, and looks to Hornet - waiting for the spider to give an explanation, or finish her sentence, or do… anything at all, really, other than stare silently.
It doesn’t take long for Lace to realise that the spider isn’t going to act without prompting, and as such, she takes it upon herself to rouse her.
“Well,” Lace starts, rising to her feet and hoping that Hornet doesn’t notice her unsteadiness, “I suppose it is time for us to depart. It would be quite a waste of all your hard work if I were torn to shreds by the nasty beasts that live here, wouldn’t it~?”
“I…” The spider hesitates, then visibly steels herself, standing and placing the trinket into some hidden pocket in her cloak. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Come, child; we ought to be leaving now.”
And it may have been Hornet who found the way to the Sea, but it is Lace who guides their way back, helping the spider traverse the passages of the Abyss that had been destroyed and created by the quakes of the writhing Void. It is Lace who finds the paths lost to time, where long-forgotten bugs had once walked to commune with the Sea; and it is Lace who finds the route to the chasm where Hornet had entered, who gives a proud flourish to the spider as she shows off her success.
Maybe the demi-God is suspicious of Lace’s knowledge; maybe she is not.
Or maybe, Lace considers, as the duo ascend through the molten lakes - maybe she suspects what Lace already knows: that the Void does not easily release those It has claimed as Its own, even under the orders of Its Lord.
Because Lace had been one with the Void, for an eternity and for only a few dozen bells. And the Void, which had Loved her and Protected her and Known her would never fully give her up.
And now, for the rest of her existence, there would always be a tiny pocket of Void, coiled tight in her chest and beating like a heart.
She would never truly be alone again - and although it would have once grated on her, much like her Mother’s eternal presence had, there was now gratitude where resentment would once have sat.
The Void was not her Mother, after all; and from the Ghost, It had learned how to let that which It loved live freely.
Make up words, make up letters
Make it worse, make it better again and again
And we’ll live on forever
On the corner of Oblivion
On the corner of Oblivion
On the corner of Oblivion
The corner of Oblivion
- When the World Ends by Madilyn Mei (Elio)